Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski (22 January 1913 – 23 February 1945) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

. He was part of the scouts and was affiliated with several other groups during the course of his ecclesial education though maintained strong links to these groups after his

ordination Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

to the priesthood. He was arrested not long after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

began and the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

moved him to several

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

s before sending him to

Dachau Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

where he died from disease. Frelichowski was beatified in Poland in 1999.

Life

Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski was born on 22 January 1913 in

Chełmża Chełmża (, earlier ''Culmsee''), is a town in northern Poland, in the Toruń County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is one of the historic centers of Chełmno Land. Geography The town Chełmża is placed at the lake named :en:Jezioro Che� ...

as the third of seven children to the baker Ludwik Frelichowski and Marta Olszewska. His siblings were: Czesław, Leonard (called Leszek) (then himself after), Eleanor, Stefania and Marcjanna Marta. In 1923 he began his high school studies at Pelpin where on 26 May 1927 he was admitted into the

Sodality of the Blessed Virgin The Sodality of Our Lady, also known as the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary (in Latin, ''Congregationes seu sodalitates B. Mariæ Virginis''), is a Roman Catholic Marian society founded in 1563 by young Belgian Jesuit Jean Leunis (or Jan) a ...

. He joined the scouts on 21 March 1927 and he later Frelichowski served as its patrol leader and later as the troop leader; on 26 June 1927 he was promoted to a different scout rank. In June 1931 he graduated from high school and then went on to commence his studies to become a priest. He was an active member of the Scout Club while he underwent his ecclesial studies. Furthermore, he was an active member of the Christian Life group in

. Since he was nine he had been an

Altar server An altar server is a laity, lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, helping bring up the gifts, and bringi ...

. During his education for the priesthood in Pelpin he was active in the

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting Temperance (virtue), temperance or total abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and ...

and collaborated with Caritas. On 14 March 1937 he received his

to the priesthood in the Pelpin Cathedral from Bishop Stanisław Wojciech Okoniewski. He first served the bishop as an aide and then served as a priest in Pelpin and in

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

before continuing his studies at the Lwów college. In Toruń he was responsible for the parish press and from 1 July 1938 was the vicar of the Assumption parish church. In 1938 he became the leader of the Old Scouts and the chaplain of the scout district of

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski Dachau Arolsen Archives DocID10055062

The

arrested him on 11 September 1939 along with all parish priests in his area and released most of them save for him on 12 September. On 18 October 1939 and he was imprisoned in the Fort VII camp on a temporary basis before being sent on 8 January 1940 with around 200 prisoners to another camp. On 10 January 1940 he was sent to the

Stutthof Stutthof was a Nazi concentration camp established by Nazi Germany in a secluded, marshy, and wooded area near the village of Stutthof (now Sztutowo) 34 km (21 mi) east of the city of Danzig (Gdańsk) in the territory of the German-an ...

and then later on 6 April to Grenzdorf and Sachsenhausen before being sent to

as his final destination on 13 December 1940. Frelichowski contracted

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

while tending to prisoners who had the disease and he also contracted

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. He died on 23 February 1945 and his remains were lined in a white sheet decorated with flowers before he was cremated. But before that the prisoner Stanisław Bieniek made a death mask and a cast of the late priest's right hand.

Beatification

The beatification cause started in a diocesan process spanning from 1964 until closure on 18 February 1995 at which point the

Congregation for the Causes of Saints In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, passi ...

validated it in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

on 12 May 1995. The formal introduction came on 12 November 1993 and he was title as a

Servant of God Servant of God () is a title used in the Catholic Church to indicate that an individual is on the first step toward possible canonization as a saint. Terminology The expression ''Servant of God'' appears nine times in the Bible, the first five in ...

. The postulation sent the

Positio A ''positio'' (short for the Latin ''positio super virtutibus'': "position on the virtues") is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a Catholic person is declared Venerable, the second of four steps on the path to can ...

to the C.C.S. in 1998 and theologians approved it later on 15 December 1998 as did the C.C.S. on 16 February 1999.

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

approved his beatification on 26 March 1999 after confirming that Frelichowski died "in odium fidei" ("in hatred of the faith") and so beatified him later while in Poland on 7 June 1999. On 22 March 2002 he was made the patron for Polish scouts after the

Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments The Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments () is the dicastery (from , from δικαστής, 'judge, juror') of the Roman Curia that handles most affairs relating to liturgical practices of the Latin Church as distin ...

approved the request that had been lodged in 1999.

References

External links

Hagiography Circle

Saints SQPN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frelichowski, Stefan Wincenty 1913 births 1945 deaths 20th-century venerated Christians 20th-century Polish Roman Catholic priests Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Catholic saints and blesseds of the Nazi era Deaths from typhus in Germany People from Chełmża Polish beatified people Polish civilians killed in World War II Polish people who died in Dachau concentration camp Polish Scouts and Guides